A week after its properties were auctioned off in a foreclosure sale, Greater Salem Church on Friday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"It stops the foreclosure," Charlotte attorney Richard M. Mitchell, who filed the petition on behalf of Greater Salem, said of the latest development.

"The congregation of that church and the people behind the church have a great deal of emotional capital tied up in that location," he said, "and they are going to do anything they can to save it."

At a Nov. 12 foreclosure auction at the Mecklenburg courthouse, the Evangelical Christian Credit Union of Brea, Calif., bid $5.1 million for Greater Salem's main building and two related properties. Months earlier, the credit union had foreclosed on the properties after Greater Salem defaulted on a $5 million it received in July 2008.

According to initial foreclosure documents filed in August, the church had not made a full payment on the note since September 2009.

Jinwright church owes $4.9 million on loan in foreclosure

In its bankruptcy petition, the church listed assets totaling $5.1 million and liabilities totaling just shy of $5 million.

Among the creditors listed as holding "unsecured nonpriority claims":

• The Internal Revenue Service -- $33,775
• Church Mutual Insurance -- $16,118
• Sherrill & Emehel, PA -- $18,000
  

According to the petition, the IRS debt is for withholding tax for years 2007, 2008 and 2009.

Greater Salem's biggest secured creditor is Evangelical Christian Credit Union, which is owed $4.9 million.

Although the credit union emerged as the top bidder for Greater Salem's properties, the law allowed 10 days for higher bids, or for Greater Salem to seek bankruptcy protection.

The bankruptcy petition come just days before Greater Salem's pastor, Bishop Anthony Jinwright, and his wife, Harriet Jinwright, are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 8 following their conviction in May on numerous counts related to federal tax evasion.

The Jinwrights were indicted on charges that they failed to report more than $1.8 million in income on their federal tax returns between 2001 and 2007. That number eventually was increased to $2.3 million. During those same years, prosecutors alleged, the couple received more than $5 million in compensation from the west Charlotte church. Prosecutors estimated that the Jinwrights owed the federal government nearly $700,000.

Witnesses in the four-week trial testified that the Jinwrights routinely collected "love offerings" from Greater Salemand then took the money home in bags. Others testified that the couple used church money to lease luxury cars, pay for vacations, and to pay their daughter's college tuition. Much of that money went unreported on federal tax returns, the government said.

Other creditors include:

• A&E Property Upkeep -- $5,257
• BP Fleet -- $4,723.29
• Brookshire Mini Storage – NPO
• Charlotte Observer -- $922.50
• Chevron Fleet -- $2,378.64
• Holmes Property Management -- $1,890
• Jane F. Painter – NPO
• Lifeway Conference Centers -- $5,008.38
• MCI Inc. -- $927
• City County Tax Collector -- NPO
• FP Mailing Solutions -- $140
• Freeway Self Storage – NPO
• Robert K. Imperial – NPO
• Shell Oil -- $4,368.38
   

Sign up for our Weekly Email Newsletter Email: For Email Marketing you can trust

Other Ways to Share Twitter Del.icio.us MySpace

Discussions and Submission Agreement